A veteran locomotive engineer who got fired twice after going to federal regulators with concerns over his employer’s failure to fix track safety problems has won a whistleblower lawsuit against Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. A federal jury in Tacoma, Washington (WA), on May 27, 2015, order BNSF to pay the wrongfully terminated worker $1.25 million in lost future wages, civil damages and punitive damages.
The suit was brought under the Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA), which protects rail employees from getting reassigned, demoted, denied advancement or fired when they raise concerns over unsafe working conditions. The engineer who took BNSF to court was serving as a safety officer for the company and as a union representative for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen at the time of his firings. In other words, as the jurors found, doing his job got him in trouble with supervisors.
During 2011, the engineer repeatedly alerted BNSF managers to malfunctioning track signals and vegetation blocking signals. When the company took no action to solve those problems, the engineer filed reports with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). After a detailed inspection, FRA officials asked BNSF to address no fewer than 350 problems with traffic control devices and right-of-way overgrowth.
After hearing from the FRA, the engineer’s supervisors staged a physical confrontation with him on company property and accused him of misrepresenting the facts of a drunk driving conviction from several years previously. The supervisors then used both incidents as pretexts for terminating the engineer.
At trial, jurors hearing the whistleblower case determined that BNSF managers and supervisors acted inappropriately and retaliated illegally the engineer. The full details of how the rail corporation violated the former worker’s FRSA rights can be read in the original complaint, Elliott v. BNSF.
As a Virginia-based attorney who has spent more than 30 years representing railroad employees injured on the job and mistreated by rail companies, I recognize the significance of this victory. Railroads from Amtrak and BNSF to CSX and Norfolk Southern often ignore safety concerns. When the corporations do pay attention to reports of dangers on trains, along tracks and in rail yards, they often attack the messengers. Every railroad employee deserves respect and a safe workplace. Companies that provide neither must be held to account.
EJL
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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